Re: information wanted
Charles Dickens (cdickens@RMPLC.CO.UK)
Thu, 18 Dec 1997 16:46:54 -0100
My dear Miss Buehler,
Perhaps I may be permitted to remind you that Miss Havisham's is not the
only garden in "Great Expectations." There is Wemmick's too, infinitely
more flourishing. A garden can often show us into the soul of the gardener.
Miss Havisham's is a rank wilderness because she has dedicated her life to
the sterile pursuit of hatred and revenge. Wemmick's blooms because,
whatever he does in the office, at home he cares tenderly for his Aged P,
and woos Miss Skiffin's innocently.
I like to think there is very little in the book that does not symbolise
more than it offers on the surface. Take the condition of London when Pip
first arrives there - dirty, crooked and crowded. Is this what Pip's hopes
amount to? Take the condition of Miss Havisham herself, and of her rooms.
Is this what a broken heart should yield?
In a second communication you ask how you may continue to write me
letters. My dear Miss Buehler, simply write to this address. I do not have
to instruct you, as I might in my day, about the method making a good sharp
point on a goose quill!
Faithfully yours,
Charles Dickens
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>i am a student in highschool and i have just completed Dicken's novel,
>
>Great Expectations. I would like to know more about the symbolization
>
>of objects in the book such as Miss Havisham's garden.
>
>Thank you!
>
>
======================
Charles Dickens
charles_dickens@rmplc.co.uk
Author